- 2015's free agency list as it stands
- Patrick Dangerfield: The free agency poster boy
FORMER St Kilda and Melbourne Storm chief executive Brian Waldron is uniquely placed to comment on the way the AFL manages its player trading, given his tenure at the helm of clubs in both the AFL and NRL.
And as the AFL continues to come to terms with a new age of player movement, Waldron believes rugby league is the more mature game when it comes to players changing clubs.
He cited Israel Folau's departure from the Storm in 2008 as a model the AFL should seek to emulate.
Waldron recounted to AFL.com.au that about five weeks into the 2008 season, the Storm gave Folau a two-week deadline to declare his intentions.
"It was in everyone's interest that he did so," Waldron recalled.
"And then he made it and announced he was going to the Brisbane Broncos. There were a few murmurs from the supporters when he first got the ball in the next match and that was the end of it.
"When it was clear that he was committed to us to the end of the season, it became far easier as a club to manage things."
Waldron believes that Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield would still receive a warm reception from Crows fans if he announced during the season that he wanted to return to Victoria.
"They'll respect him for what he's done for the club. There's nothing wrong with wanting to come home," he said.
"The AFL needs to grow up. There's no reason why it can't mature and have a process, so if Dangerfield does tell everyone he's leaving, it won't impact his ability to play hard for the Crows and not have it hang over his head."
Waldron was the architect of the salary cap scandal that engulfed the Storm in 2010 and which forced the cub to forfeit two premiership wins. He has started to increase his media profile and harbours hopes of returning to a sports management role.
He also noted that last year's NRL Grand Final between South Sydney and Canterbury-Bankstown was one of the most intense for years, but featured nine players who it was already known were changing clubs following the game, including Bulldogs skipper Michael Ennis, now of Cronulla.
Damien Hardwick's draft/trade blueprint
Sydney Swans coach John Longmire lives and breathes the NRL transfer system every day when he reads the back pages of the local paper.
In the past 12 months he has gained (Lance Franklin) and lost (Nick Malceski) high-profile free agents and while he doesn't support Waldron's contention outright, he believes the AFL should at least entertain the discussion.
"We have got free agency, how are we going to deal with it? Can we sit down and have a mature conversation about it?" he told AFL.com.au.
"It's not something we should be spooked about."
Longmire admitted that the sight of an AFL player sitting in the colours of his new club while contracted to his former club would be jarring for many in football.
"I understand that. But the first step is not to be afraid to have a conversation and see where that goes."
Such a scenario plays itself out in the NRL many times each year. Only last week, Manly's Daly Cherry-Evans was seen on the Gold Coast openly talking to the Titans about playing there next year despite the 2015 season not starting until next month.
Coaches have their say on free agency
Greater Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron has followed that NRL story with interest as he enters a season where several of his own players including Jeremy Cameron, Adam Treloar and Stephen Coniglio will soon be out of contract.
"The hardest thing is, if a player says he'll put his contract off, history suggests he'll end up somewhere else," he said.
"But what other way is there to do it than how we do it now? Our supporters aren’t ready for that. What would happen? They wouldn't let him play."
Cameron said the consequences for a club should a star player declare midseason he wanted to play elsewhere could be disastrous for a club, particularly if it was negotiating a sponsorship agreement.
"Every club has to have the opportunity to back in its system and try to keep a player," he said.
